Nathan Chen Fan Thread #2

[Karen-W]

Congratulations to the 7th US man to win OGM!

https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1491647803914915842

Such a grand legacy to join! US Men are the most formidable class in Men's skating over the last 80 years!

 

[Sylvia]

NBC Sports (Gannon, Weir, Lipinski) video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zVL9WY3dUw

Nathan Chen put the ghost of PyeongChang emphatically behind him, delivering a whopping 218.63-point free skate to become just the second American man to win men's singles in 30 years -- and cement his status as the best men's figure skater in the world.

ETA that the original placement of his 3A at the music's crescendo during the transition to "Rocketman" used to be one of my fave moments in the program but now I think Nathan landing the 4Lz at that point works well too!

Tim Layden: Nathan Chen following long line of Olympic champions (aired on NBC before his FS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBcjFuye29Y

First it was Scott Hamilton. Then Brian Boitano. Then Evan Lysacek. Now, it's Nathan Chen's turn to ascend the men's figure skating throne.

 

[NinjaTurtles]

Choose your fighter:

 

[mindatwork]

Wasn't Nathan's perfect skate, but it was his most joyous - and honestly, I'll take that over a perfect skate anybody. I never thought I could prouder of him than I already was, but I was proven wrong tonight. Congrats Nathan, it's been a joy and a pleasure to be your fan for all these years!

 

[Mayra]

Wasn't Nathan's perfect skate, but it was his most joyous - and honestly, I'll take that over a perfect skate anybody. I never thought I could prouder of him than I already was, but I was proven wrong tonight. Congrats Nathan, it's been a joy and a pleasure to be your fan for all these years!

I thought the same thing. You could see him smile throughout the performance and once the last jump combo was done, he fully let loose. It was a great performance made more enjoyable because he was having a blast.

 

[love skating]

Congrats Nathan - Olympic Champ! So deserving and such a great guy. I admit I got teary when the final result came in. So happy for him!

 

[A.H.Black]

20 years ago, just after the Salt Lake Games were over, I went to a club show at Steiner arena in Salt Lake City. It was a typical club show and the only thing that stood out to me was a very little boy. I even wrote about it on the old version of "Unseen Skaters". I sort kept track of that little boy and had great hopes for him - maybe he would be an Olympic Gold Medalist.

It happened! With a big smile on his face - it happened.

Congratulations Nathan.

Thank you for all the joy of watching you skate.

 

[sheetz]

Nathan spoke to Andrea Joyce afterwards.

Nathan Chen 'can't even describe' how Olympic gold feels | Winter Olympics 2022 | NBC Sports

After winning men's singles figure skating gold with an astounding free skate, Nathan Chen talks about his "whirlwind" of emotions and what it means to accom...

youtu.be

Some congratulations from the skating world:
Sasha Trusova

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Charlie White

https://twitter.com/CharlieaWhite/status/1491645248283594757

Maxim Kovtun

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Sergey Voronov

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Jean Luc Baker

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Karen Chen

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And from the family

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[Lanie]

this me right now:

SA;DLDHALDHASKDHSJDAHJSAHDSFKDFLJDSFS!!!!!!!

Congratulations Nathan, that was feckin incredible.

 

[Xela M]

No words!! My heart was in my throat, but sooo glad I stayed up all night to watch him (despite having to get up early for work ). Once in a while all the stars align and the most deserving skater actually wins the Olympics!

Absolutely amazing so so thrilled for him and Rafa!!!!

Best mens skater of all time?

 

[olympic]

I am feeling all sorts of things right now - elated, tired, a little depressed that it's over; please explain to me why I couldn't wait for it to be over, but am bluesy that it is.

I hope we see him at 2022 Worlds. I think that will be it for his competitive career, no?

 

[vgerdes]

Congratulations to Nathan Chen, Olympic gold medalist. Long time coming, and well deserved exclamation point on a legendary career.

 

[flyingsit]

When he went back to Rocketman, I was disappointed that he chose that over the absolute masterpiece that the Philip Glass program is... but now it's obvious that this program let him show his joy in a way that the Glass couldn't.

 

[Wyliefan]

Same for the Mozart. I loved the idea of his skating to that. But he couldn't have done with it what he did here.

(Still, if he sticks around for a bit, I hope they try to do something more with that one!)

 

[Sylvia]

Full medal ceremony for Nathan, Yuma & Shoma: https://www.nbcolympics.com/videos/usas-nathan-chen-accepts-his-very-first-gold-medal

I had seen an article last night about him leaving the Olympics early but have since heard that he WILL perform in the Gala scheduled to air live in the U.S. late Saturday, February 19 - Sunday, February 20.

 

[Sylvia]

Saw USFS retweeted this: https://twitter.com/eltonofficial/status/1491766323575201792

 

[Sylvia]

The Elton John official account's 2nd tweet mentioned he executive-produced ‘From The Top': https://twitter.com/eltonofficial/status/1491766401748639747

Nathan's episodes of From the Top just dropped!

https://olympics.com/en/original-series/from-the-top-olympians-and-rockstars/

Nathan's Rockstar is Hayley Kiyoko - never heard of her but I listen to country. Not sure if it was widely known before this series but she is the daughter of well-known skating choreographer Sarah Kawahara. And apparently her siblings gave her a bit of a hard time when they heard about this show because she's "the worst skater" of the siblings, lol.

It was really cute and nice to see Nathan so relaxed and comfortable. And he looks so much better with the curly, longer hair than he did in 2018, lol.

 

[A.H.Black]

Congrats from the Utah Jazz - https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/1491650712551317505

ETA Congrats from Elton John - https://twitter.com/eltonofficial/status/1491766323575201792

 

[Sylvia]

Stephanee Grosscup congratulates Nathan and his mom (includes 8 photos through the years) with a lovely message : https://www.instagram.com/p/CZzd41JJibi/

Video of baby Nathan's Snowplow Sam freeskate taken by his first coach, Stephanee Grosscup.

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Wellwishes from Grosscup

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ETA:

Nathan's first IG post & photo after winning is not surprising at all ("Thanks mom couldn’t have done this without my family"): https://www.instagram.com/p/CZzYCkPrghy/

 

[Spiralgraph]

yay yay yay Nathan Chen Olympic Champion! That sounds terrific to say out loud. Congratulations. That LP had everything: power
footwork and joy. My goodness he almost looks like a different person when he lets go and allows his happiness and joy to shine.

 

[sheetz]

Probably the fastest Nathan has ever updated his IG page after a victory!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZzYCkPrghy/

Jackie Wong has a nice write up on Nathan's Olympic journey.

Opining on the Winter Olympics Men's Event (part 2): A rush of raw emotion — Rocker Skating - Analysis by Jackie Wong

For Nathan Chen, Olympic gold was the culmination of four years of preparation. Chen won the men’s event in figure skating at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China

www.rockerskating.com

I agree with Jackie about the 4Lz. I don't think anyone else in the World has such mastery of it that they can tap in to the beat of the music the way he did.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZzd1RlogKr/

 

[Fadeevfanboy]

I am feeling all sorts of things right now - elated, tired, a little depressed that it's over; please explain to me why I couldn't wait for it to be over, but am bluesy that it is.

I hope we see him at 2022 Worlds. I think that will be it for his competitive career, no?

I think he would take a break for sure, and then see if he has the motivation to return at some point for a shot at 2026. So I would say it would be an undecided sort of thing similar to both Davis & White and Virtue & Moir. I would say 40/60 to him returning or not, with the 60 being the not, but I wouldn't rule it out completely either.

 

[Fadeevfanboy]

Best mens skater of all time?

At the very least he should be in the conversation with the likes of Button, Curry, Hanyu, Yagudin, Plushenko at this point.

In my admitedly biased opinion, since I am a huge Chen fan, I think he has a good case.

 

[Fadeevfanboy]

The best part was the relief and outpouring of emotion. You could tell how badly he wanted and the immense pressure that was on him. I resent people like NBC who really overload the pressure to ridiculous excess on the dominant athletes like Biles and Chen with their OTT overworship (yes you can overworship even the GOATs and best athletes), and we saw what their ridiculousness contributed to doing to queen Simone. I am so glad he was able to overcome it and excel over it in flying colors and accomplish his ultimate goal.

 

[suki]

Thrilled beyond words for the great Nathan Chen. I am still catching up with the articles. Are there any videos of Rafe Artunian watching Nathan from the boards while he was skating? I love watching him watching his skaters knock it out of the park.

 

[Rafter]

No words!! My heart was in my throat, but sooo glad I stayed up all night to watch him (despite having to get up early for work ). Once in a while all the stars align and the most deserving skater actually wins the Olympics!

Absolutely amazing so so thrilled for him and Rafa!!!!

Best mens skater of all time?

100% yes.

 

[Sylvia]

Jackie Wong has a nice write up on Nathan's Olympic journey.
https://www.rockerskating.com/news/...mpics-mens-event-part-2-a-rush-of-raw-emotion

I agree with Jackie about the 4Lz. I don't think anyone else in the World has such mastery of it that they can tap in to the beat of the music the way he did.

"Restricted Video This [Instagram] video is not available in your country."


For those in the USA, I've cued up NBC Sports' FS video to the point right before his 4Lz (some might see a commercial first): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zVL9WY3dUw&t=110s

ETA that the original placement of his 3A at the music's crescendo during the transition to "Rocketman" used to be one of my fave moments in the program but now I think Nathan landing the 4Lz at that point works well too!

 

[Wyliefan]

A Deadspin writer appreciates the way that Nathan "brings figure skating to us dorks."

Nathan Chen brings figure skating to us dorks

American takes gold in a way we can all truly appreciate

deadspin.com

Still, I know a cultural phenomenon when I see one, so I had to tune in for Nathan Chen’s long program, because the buzz had been building to a point where it was hard to miss it. I usually anticipate tuning in and seeing an outfit that costs more than my car on someone skating to a piece of classical music that Frasier and Niles would arrogantly and triumphantly identify while simultaneously making me feel like a barnyard animal for not being able to.

What I found was a dude in a Star Trek outfit skating around to Elton John. Now this is my language!

I found this Washington Post piece oddly somber -- the author didn't capture the joy of Nathan's skate -- but there's some great descriptive writing and some nice stuff about Nathan and Mariah's friendship.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2022/02/10/nathan-chen-gold-medal-figure-skating-beijing-olympics/

As the day wore on, building up to his performance, which was scheduled last, Chen stood with Bell beneath the stands. Often, in such instances, they talk about skating. This time, Chen said almost nothing about the sport. Bell didn’t try to change the topic, letting the conversations go wherever Chen wanted — which, it turned out, involved how to throw a football.

He pulled out a youth-sized football, one of the many things he had brought on this trip to burn any nervous energy. He showed Bell how to throw it, telling her where to put her hands on the laces. For a long time, they tossed it around, in a room filled with costumed skaters.

Bell tried to measure Chen’s emotions, but he showed little.

“He’ll be fine,” she said she later decided. “His energy was good.”

 

[Wyliefan]

Cuteness overload: Mariah hugs the stuffing out of Nathan while Michal shows video of his daughter who stayed up to watch Nathan.

https://twitter.com/iamkid_A/status/1491848658119233548

 

[Sylvia]

Cuteness overload: Mariah hugs the stuffing out of Nathan ...

AWWW.

Jo Ling Kent did this friendship fluff piece on Nathan & Mariah for NBC (both were interviewed before his FS):

Figure skating friends forever: Nathan Chen and Mariah Bell

Figure skaters Nathan Chen and Mariah Bell train together and have forged a unique bond off the ice. From game nights to exploring the Olympic Village together, Bell tells Jo Ling Kent about their friendship.

www.nbcolympics.com

Also on her IG: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZx4TzaDp76/

⛸besties on and off the ice: the sweet story of nathan chen and Mariah bell's blossoming friendship, ft. adam rippon. mariah tells me with a big ol smile: “i know he's going to be amazing. i'm going to feel like it's happening to me.”

ETA link to Adam's TikTok to IG reel video ("Cheering on King Nathan Chen here in Beijing and yeah maybe I cried it’s okay"): https://www.instagram.com/reel/CZzCkyulSQG/